Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Domestic Chicken

THE DOMESTIC CHICKENOOPS!!! I meant....The Chicken (Gallus gallus, sometimes G. gallus domesticus) is a domesticated fowl likely descended from the wild Indian and southeast Asian Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and the related Grey Junglefowl (G. sonneratii). Traditionally it has been widely accepted that the chicken was descended solely from the former, as hybrids of both wild types tended toward sterility; but recent genetic work has revealed that the genotype for yellow skin present in the domestic fowl is not present in what is otherwise its closest kin, the Red Junglefowl. It is deemed most likely, then, that the yellow skin trait in domestic birds originated in the Grey Junglefowl.[1]

The chicken is one of the most common and widespread domestic animals. With a population of more than 24 billion in 2003,[2] there are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, with both their meat and their eggs consumed.

The game of Chicken, also known as the Hawk-Dove game, is an influential model of conflict for two players in game theory. The principle of the game is that while each player prefers not to yield to the other, the outcome where neither player yields is the worst possible one for both players. The name "Chicken" has its origins in a game in which two drivers drive towards each other on a collision course: one must swerve, or both may die in the crash, but if one driver swerves but the other does not, he or she will be called a "chicken"; this terminology is most prevalent in the political science and economics. The name "Hawk-Dove" refers to a situation in which there is a competition for a shared resource and the contestants can choose either conciliation or conflict; this terminology is most commonly used in biology and evolutionary game theory. From a game-theoretic point of view, "Chicken" and "Hawk-Dove" are identical; the different names stem from parallel development of the basic principles in different research areas.[1] The game has also been used to describe the mutual assured destruction of nuclear warfare.[2]

The game is similar to the prisoner's dilemma game in that an "agreeable" mutual solution is unstable since both players are individually tempted to stray from it. However, it differs in the cost of responding to such a deviation. This means that, even in an iterated version of the game, retaliation is ineffective, and a mixed strategy may be more appropriate.

UPDATE: PLEASE IGNORE THE LAST TWO PARAGRAPHS. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THEY GOT THERE. THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH NATURE, BUT RATHER, BEHAVIOURAL PATTERNS. I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY CONFUSION.

Sorry James - don't now if you just saw the 'roasted chicken' on newsworld announcing that there would be a cross canada safari to YET AGAIN study the wants and needs of female chickens and how to ensure female chickens have better representation in the chicken flock. I guess your speculation on other blogs about the behavioural strutting and nattering of the Jim weasel is perhaps premature.

So I take it that the answer to "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" is in fact. "Neither. The wild Indian and southeast Asian Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and the related Grey Junglefowl (G. sonneratii) came first."